The Canadian Nicola Mining (WKN A3D3LF / TSXV NIM), which might best be described as a hybrid of exploration and production company, made an important step towards increasing revenues yesterday. CEO Peter Espig’s company received a draft permit from the provincial government of British Columbia for the extraction of a bulk sample at its high-grade gold and silver Dominion Creek project, in which it holds a 75% stake!
To ensure swift progress and prompt issuance of the final permit, the company has already taken the necessary next steps, particularly by depositing the bond for the restoration (reclamation) of the site after the end of future mining. Nicola now aims to begin extracting the bulk sample, which the permit allows for up to 10,000 tons of ore, as early as the second quarter if possible. The processing will then take place at the company’s Merritt facility.
Nicola’s partner at Dominion Creek is High Range Exploration, which has been involved with the project for a long time and should therefore be all the more pleased that the project, located near Smithers in British Columbia, is now moving forward.
Nicola Mining had previously sampled material from the Dominion Creek deposit and achieved promising results. For example, a 9.7-kilogram sample of prominent sulfide mineralization from vein number 16 yielded 62.1 g/t gold, 320 g/t silver, 23.4% lead, and 12.4% zinc. Additionally, Highland provided 26.4 kilograms of mineralized material from a bulk sample taken between 1989 and 1992. This sample showed 58.7 g/t gold, 130 g/t silver, 7.7% lead, 4.2% zinc, 1.49% iron, and 4.65% sulfur.
Additional ore sources for the Merritt facility
Apart from Dominion Creek, Nicola Mining has other sources of ore that can be processed at the Merritt facility. It is expected that Talisker Resources will also begin delivering ore to the Merritt mill as early as the second quarter of this year. Furthermore, ore deliveries from Blue Lagoon Resources are expected to commence in the third quarter of 2025, with whom Nicola has signed a processing and profit-sharing agreement – and Blue Lagoon recently announced receiving permission for mining 55,000 tons per year.
All of this, according to Atrium Research analysts recently, indicates that Nicola Mining is well on its way to operating its processing plant at almost full capacity by the third quarter of 2025.
In an interview with Goldinvest.de at this year’s PDAC in Toronto, Nicola’s CEO Peter Espig also expressed great confidence in being able to ramp up the plant’s utilization soon and thus achieve revenues of up to 100 million dollars in the coming 12 months (April 2025 to April 2026)!
Here is the full interview:
